Grrrrrrr.

After MANY slow hours, I decided to shut my kiln off at 1647°. I think my elements are kaput. The thermocouples are all working, the relays are all working...it just doesn't seem to have enough juice to get up to cone 10. So......there goes my day. Now I have to wait for the damn thing to cool (which is going to take forever because it's so packed), unload all 50+ pieces, change the elements, reload, re-fire, and then wait for it to cool AGAIN. Grrrrrr. The plan was to unload tomorrow and reload with greenware. Guess that's not happening. I was just finishing up a few more things for that bisque load, including these egg cups....did I mention I've been making a series of egg cups???????I think this came to me, in part, from working on my piece for the small favors show. I had been working on some larger (large for me) animal pieces, some of them don't really have a function...meaning; vase, pitcher, teapot....they are just sculptural. That is fine, of course, but I do like to at least hint at a function. So, I thought I'd work on some small (even smaller than usual) animals....more sculptural and all with the same function. I have been wanting to make egg cups for a while now, but seeing as they are not so popular in the US, I wasn't sure anyone would be interested in them...but I've decided I don't care.

BUT, then my kiln crapped out on me. SOOOOO, if you are waiting on work from me or waiting to see what's new in the studio....I'm sorry to say, you are going to have to wait a little longer. I HATE when this stuff happens....

So tired.

Well, even with having Thanksgiving at out house this year, I still got a lot done in the studio. The kiln is PACKED full and just finished firing. I'm hoping it won't take too long to cool because I was hoping to do a glaze firing early Sunday. I wanted to have everything finished an unloaded by "Cyber Monday" (I hate that term) but we'll see...
I really want the work finished just so I can see these birdies all glazed up.

So, be on the lookout late Monday...but probably more like Tuesday for new stuff.

I'm also getting reeeally close to my 1,000th sale over at the old Etsy shop. And just like before, I'll be including a small gift with every order until I get to 1,000!

Restless.

The kiln is on and it's a *sort of* day off for me. I'm going to have soooo much to glaze. The kiln is PACKED. I went on a rampage this past week and made about 60 pieces...not including 24 tiny tripods and 18 square dishes. It's going to take FOREVER to cool. I probably won't be able to fit it all in once it's glazed, but at least I'll have a jump start on the next load.

I was kindly featured in two treasuries.

Both the bowl (which is really dark pink, not red) and the chicken (last one in cobalt...ever!) are still available and ON SALE or ON SUPER SALE in my shop.

Now I'm off to Lowe's to check out some colors for my kitchen. Right now it's yellow with orange trim and white cabinets (very 70's) and a horrible floor that needs to be replaced. I still love the colors, it was the first room I painted when we moved in...the second day we were in. The room was a pale robin's egg blue that totally offended me and HAD TO GO immediately. It's been 4 years since I painted and I'm just feeling I need a change. I've pretty much settled on a lovely retro aqua. I just need to find one that's not too crazy bright but not too boring. Since I've started collecting my Franciscan starburst plates, I've also been collecting mid-century pots with aqua interiors like these from McCoy. So I'm really looking for that color. Now it's just picking an accent color for the trim. I could do white, but my cabinets are white and right now the trim around them is orange. White on white might be fine. It's really that or maybe red. I have a lot of red in the kitchen- a starburst clock, my kitchenaid mixer, food processor and pots and pans. And red and aqua are lovely together. Decisions, decisions. Then it's picking out the floor...Ahhh!

1500°??

WOW. So I guess it's been a while since I've posted. I've been majorly busy in the studio. I'm actually in a bit of a sour mood at the moment. I was firing a ▲10 glaze kiln this afternoon and I was shocked to hear from Jon that the kiln was off after only 4 hours! I immediately thought "what now?!" but then I remembered that I just opened a new box of cones. Aha! ▲010. Someone gave me the wrong box. I checked my invoice to make sure, and it definitely says ▲10. So that was a total waste of energy. Tomorrow it's back to Bailey's to get my proper cones and then I get to start all over again. I'm a bit disappointed as I had a lot of new vases I was pretty excited about seeing. Now I'm going to have to wait 2 extra days.

I did have work included in two treasuries that made Etsy's front page on Sunday and Monday.

Both yellow pieces. Hmm.

Oh, and I also spent Saturday night putting up some decals that I ordered from Elephannie....I know, a very exciting Saturday night, but Jon's band was playing and I felt like staying in. I had been wanting to do something with the space over my tub for a while now. Our bathroom is HUGE. More than twice the size of my undergrad studio space. In a normal house it would probably be a small bedroom. This photo shows about 1/6 of it.

Anyway, doesn't it look fab?! Our house was built in 1970 and then left unfinished for a few years. The previous owners bought it from the people who built it and finished it themselves. The couple were both artists and that made for some creative touches to the house. I'm particularly fond of the black tub, sink and toilet (right of the tub). Everyone who comes over comments on them. The black and white tiles are also very 70's. We had to re-do the shower stall (left of the tub) and opted to keep the tiles the same...although the original was all white and we added more black. Anyway, I'm totally addicted to these decals now. They were so easy to use and when I'm tired of them I can just peel them off and get something new.

Hot. Hot. Hot.

The kiln is taking FOREVER to cool. I guess it was packed tighter than I realized. These tiny tripods are small, but they still take up space and I had A LOT of them. I had to use a lot of shelves and they love to soak up heat. Here's a bunch before they went in the glaze firing.UGH! I just want to see my new glazes!!

Otherwise, I've just been taking it easy today. Jon is always lecturing me on taking a day off now and then so I don't go crazy, so that's just what I'm doing. I watched The Great Escape (one of my all time favorites) and now it's The Magnificent Seven. Both with Steve McQueen (*sigh*) and James Coburn (who played a smallish part in each movie, but also my favorite character in each movie). And both have excellent scores by Elmer Bernstein.

Okay! I'm off to finish my movie. And remember, there's still time to buy a great gift for that mom in you life. And if you want it directly sent to her, I'll even gift wrap it and send a note free of charge!

934°F and rising.

The shelves are empty and the bisque is firing. I must admit, I'm pretty excited to unload and glaze this next batch of work. I'm going to be experimenting with some new glazes as well. I'm almost out of my dark pink glaze (that was basically a mistake and cannot be replicated) and I thought maybe I'd try another pink. Maybe more "pretty" pink than the deep, rosy, salmon-y, whatever-you-want-to-call-it, pink that I have now. I'm also still working on a new green and now that I'm officially out of my limited-time-only pale blue glaze, I'm testing out another shade of blue. My deep cobalt has been a bit too much for me lately...too harsh with the other colors. So, I'm not going to be using it as much. I could never take it away all together, I've been using it for almost 10 years!

The weather has been a bit cold. I guess we were all spoiled by the hot, sunny weather of the past few weeks. I'm thinking maybe some outside work is in store for this afternoon. I need to move some plants and now that my hostas are opening up the beds don't look so empty. Since there is no work to report, here's a look at some of my pretty tulips....

...oh, and part of the huge chunk of bedrock protruding out of my backyard. Those 3 white domes I picked up at a local surplus/junk shop a few years ago. I'm not really sure what their original purpose was, but I love them and when the sedum is growing up around them they look really cool. I'm sure they help the neighbors with thinking that I'm totally nuts. That and the fact that I'm young, I'm home all day-everyday, don't have kids, give the mailman boxes and boxes everyday, emit strange odors from the side of the house that smell like I'm burning humans, walk the dog with a hot pink apron on and white stuff smeared all the way up my arms...classy.

Fly away.

Well, I've still been super busy in the studio. I'm just about to fill another bisque and I'm feeling quite productive. I've been working on this "bird dish" design for a while. I kept drawing and re-drawing it until I realized I was just drawing the same thing and any technical problems would have to be solved in the making. I wanted to make them with my gray porcelain and also make them thicker so they are more substantial and more sculptural...as if they are carved out of stone. And, I used white slip on top. I'm still not sure how I want to glaze them so I made 6 to experiment with. I also made 75 (and I'm hoping for another 25 today) tiny tripods, most of them orders. And, a pair of fish bowls...

I guess that's it for me. I need to pack and ship and get my butt in the studio and make a few more things. I wanted to fire this kiln today, but I wasn't feeling so hot for the past couple of days, so I'm aiming for tomorrow. Hopefully unloading a glaze firing on Saturday...again, I was aiming for Friday, but it looks like I'm a day behind....hopefully not two!!!

I'm out.

blah.

So I just realized it's been over a WEEK since I updated this thing! Bad. I've actually just been really busy. My bestest friend from college came up last weekend and we hiked and ate good food and just chilled out...I needed that. I did bust my ass and got a lot of work done. Fired 3 kilns, finished up all my orders and now it's time to do some playing. I have a stack of ideas to try and I'm pretty excited. I have a ton of gray porcelain waiting to be used and I'm thinking of using white slip...

Anyway, I made it to the front page the other day... is it so wrong that I want those Barbie earrings from margauxlange?

I was also included in this fab chicken list! I can't believe this didn't make it to the front page. I think it's so great. And I LOVE mincingmockingbird.

So anyway, I just unloaded a glaze firing this morning. Loads of tiny tripods, more chicks and more of my square dishes I've been working on. I'm very pleased with these little dishes. They fit tea lights, they would be great for sauces, salt and pepper, jewelry...very useful. I have them in 5 colors right now; green, pink, yellow, cobalt blue, and I just unloaded 4 in orange!

☼ Spring.

I slacked a bit yesterday and spent some time cleaning up the yard and uncovering more flowers. I couldn't help it, it was sooooo nice out. I'm taking it easy today as well, although it is much cooler and I'm keeping inside. I'm firing a bisque and posting more new work in my shop. I keep posting chicks and they keep selling within a few hours. So, if you want one and missed it, just shoot me a message, I do have more in the studio...so much for my summer inventory. I did post this new bowl. It was my favorite thing that came out of the last firing.

Isn't it pretty? And it feels so nice.

I also got to hang out with my friend Jen on Friday. We were both in the BFA ceramics program at the same time. Fortunately she is also still living in the area and making work. She has an Etsy shop too. Go check her out! She has beautiful planters just waiting to be filled up with herbs or some pretty annuals. I'm totally in love with this one.

She's not using terracotta anymore so get a jump on what's left in her shop. And she's mixed up some beautiful glazes to use on her new stoneware work so be on the lookout...I know, she showed them to me on Friday! It's so nice to have someone around to geek about ceramics with.☺

AHHHHH.

I think I'm back on track. The glaze firing went just fine and I've just finished unloading it. So.......here are my chicks!!

Don't they look happy? I'll be posting some in my shop over the next couple of days. I did post some new tiny tripods in my periwinkle. I only made 3 so get them while you can!

Update.

All the connections were gone over for the millionth time and tightened as tight as could be and I started her up again. And guess what??? She was fine! I had wanted to load and fire a cone 10 glaze today, but my brain was shot. Tomorrow I will be babysitting again. I am pretty sure it was just a loose wire, but I am still hoping everything is back on track...

I could cry.

Still not working.

I started the kiln yesterday. It was rising beautifully...all the way to 1527 degrees. Then, nothing. Another error message. I know it has something to do with the thermocouples. Possibly the relay. So tomorrow I will spend the day babysitting. I'm going to start her up, empty, do a fast firing and see what happens. Every 20 min. write down the temp reading on each thermocouple and check that the lights are going when they should and see.... It doesn't make sense to me that the second failed firing got 1000 degrees higher before it shut off. Now I'm about a week behind schedule with no happy ending in sight....bleh.

Failed.

I changed the thermocouples that I picked up and loaded her up with a new batch of green ware and 3 hours later....she shut off again!!! Bailey's called this afternoon to let me know that my back order is in already, good news. I'm going to get it tomorrow morning, change it, re-load and try again. I didn't get to see the error message on the control panel, so I'm not even sure that will fix it, but I hope it does. I'm now about 4 days behind schedule. But, at least I have enough work to do 2 glaze firings back to back.

It was fairly nice out today and I did manage to spend some time outside, cleaning up the yard and checking out the flowers that have started to peak out of the ground. I even have half a dozen crocus blooming. And, Dudley had his first tick of the season yesterday. DOA. However much I hate putting that chemically Advantix stuff on him, there are just too many ticks around here....sometimes I wish they made it for humans. I did manage to work on my taxes this evening (BORING) and post a couple of things in my Etsy shop. Including this pendant that I am quite pleased with. I rarely layer glazes, but I love this green/blue combination.

All finished.

Ah, so I took a few days off from blogging and fired a bisque and glazed and then fired up again. The vases are all finished...

They look so late 60's, early 70's. Especially with my vintage kitchen canisters in the background (they hold some oxides and stains-a little present from my lovely husband).

Anyway, it feels good to get that order done and I have a bunch of new work besides these to add to my back stock and some to list on Etsy. I broke out the 2-ton Epoxy and finished up some new pendants. I just posted a couple in my shop. One with my new orange and one with my "for a limited time only" periwinkle.
Looks like tomorrow with be a packing and shipping morning. Then it's time to start my next big order. Lots of serving bowls and mugs...ah, mugs...

new work.

I unloaded a kiln Friday night. Like I mentioned before, it was mostly special orders. Not much left to post on Etsy or to keep as back stock. Whenever I think I'm getting ahead, I see a boost in sales and then *poof* no more work left. I thought January and February were the "get ahead"months!

Anyway, mug mania was brutal. I had several mug orders to fill. I haven't been making many mugs because they are rather labor intensive and I don't want to have to charge a ton for them. I recently started to only take special orders for them and then I sell off the extras from the special orders. And however many times I say to myself "never make more than 8 at a time" I never listen. I inevitably end up with at least a dozen mugs that all need to be carved at the exact same time, have handle put on at the exact same time...ugh! 8 is manageable, more than that is not. And here are some of the fruits of my labor. (and with my new orange again!)

I also have my new lavender glaze. I guess I'd say it's more of a periwinkle, but it really depends on the light. It definitely looks more blue in my photos. Maybe I will call it periwinkle. It looks so nice with just about all of my colors. Especially green and yellow. I only made up a small batch. So once it's gone, it's gone!

I also forgot to mention that I was on the front page again a couple of nights ago. And yes, more tiny tripods. This time in red! And of course, another great treasury of items that I'm happy to have been included with.

Hot hot hot.

This kiln is on and the studio is toasty. I must admit, I have pretty girlie bisque ware when it's glazed. It looks like I was painting Easter eggs.

The lavender pot in the center is a test for a....lavender glaze. Some raw glazes start out looking nothing like the color they will be when the are fired. I've had many 8 year old boys get very concerned that their little earthenware scull was going to end up pink because that's what color the clear is. Anyway. I use a mix of stains and oxides so most of my glazes somewhat resemble the color they will end up. Hopefully the purple works out. It won't be a forever color, but I'll mix up a small batch.

For now, here is Dudley guarding his new toy...

Thinking spring.

I don't really have anything to report. Firing a glaze kiln tomorrow. Again, mostly special orders. I was on a bit of a pitcher/creamer kick last week. I have 4 in this load. All larger than a creamer but too small to really be a functional pitcher...I don't know what I was thinking. I mean I do want my work to be used, but it goes back to what I said about certain forms working better at certain sizes. Anyway, other than that, I still hate winter. So here are a few spring time pretties...

I ♥ hearts.

So after some annoying kiln issues, I've finally posted some new work in the shop. After MANY hours of the kiln slowly rising, I shut it off at about 2000 degrees. So frustrating. It turns out I had a break in the bottom element. I'm sure it never would have gotten to temperature. Thankfully Bailey's called on Friday to tell me the back ordered elements were in. I changed them all, excluding the bottom one that I changed last month. Then, I re-loaded and she rose up like a champ. Cone 10 in a little over 7 hours!! Note to self: CHANGE THE ELEMENTS MORE OFTEN!!!

And the fruits of my labor....

Tiny porcelain hearts. Made with vintage lace, pressed into the ultra thin porcelain and painted with black slip. When the lace is lifted, it leaves not only the imprint of the lace, but the white of the porcelain beneath. These are tiny, 1 3/4 inch wide, and come on a 12 inch length of red satin ribbon. I'm selling them in sets of 4. That way you can give some, keep some, use them to decorate the house or use them as gift tags! I've left the backs blank so you could write or paint on them. Love them.

I also LOVE this vase. I've just been holding in my hands, it feels so nice. I made several small 1 pound vases (I call them that because they are thrown with 1 lb. of clay....duh!). I'm particularly in love with this one's shape and that cool, pale blue. I'm now officially out of this glaze and won't be making more, so get it while you can! So cute.

She's hot.

I changed the bottom element and away she rose.

Unloading and more glazing tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's a photo of Mercury

taken 2 days ago by NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft.

Hit a snag.

So the work never got fired.

I've been meaning to change the heating elements in the kiln for a month or so. It's been taking longer and longer to reach temperature and the floor element is definitely split. So.....My first firing back from the holidays, and it stalls out at about 270 degrees! Which really doesn't make any sense to me. I'm hoping it's just the elements and not a controller problem. I took the 2 mile trip over to Bailey's and unfortunately they only had 3 of the 6 elements I need. I'm going to change the floor tomorrow and try again. If it doesn't work, I'll start changing the rest. If that doesn't work, I'll wait until the back ordered elements are in. If that doesn't work...well...I won't be too happy.

Grrrr...